Tag: ArtistInterviews

Hinder is back and in a big way with their new release “Take It To the Limit”, which was released on Nov. 4th and rocketed into the Top 5 on the album charts. HRH recently had the chance to talk to Hinder’s skinman Cody Hanson not only about the new album but also, their upcoming tour with Motley Crue and the band’s love for Jaeger. With no one rushing us through the interview Cody and I ended up talking for close to 30 minutes so it is impossible to put everything we talked about down without it running for 3 or 4 pages. I have to say Cody is one of the coolest people I have interviewed, not only for HRH but going back to the days I worked in radio also. Enjoy!

HRH: “Take It To the Limit” is Hinder’s first album in 3 years, with the way the music scene changes so fast these days did the band worry about it taking so long to get the album out?

Cody Hanson: Actually yeah, that is always a concern whenever you are going in. But we were on the road so long and “Extreme Behavior” had so much life that we had to stay out on the road and tour on it as long as we could. But once we got finished we didn’t take a break except for maybe a week and a half if that, then we were writing and going into the studio shortly after so we definitely got it out there as quick as we could.

HRH: You worked with Brian Howes producing again. Did that make the process easier since you had worked with him on “Extreme Behavior”?

Cody Hanson: Oh definitely man! We work so well with Brian, he’s like our sixth member of the band. He’s one of our best friends and he’s amazing so anytime we can work with him it makes it a lot easier.

HRH: “Loaded & Alone” and “Far From Home” are two autobiographical songs. What are some other songs that came out of real life experiences?

Cody Hanson: Well, a lot of our songs are true life experiences, Almost every song on the album is an experience that one of us has had. Austin and I do the majority of the lyric writing but we pull things that we see happening to the rest of the guys as well or even some friends or family members.

HRH: You have a video for “Use Me” and have “Use Me’ and “Without You” on the radio. Are we going to see a video for “Without You” anytime soon?

Cody Hanson: Yeah it should be out already. I wanna say MTV2 just picked it up and Fuse might’ve picked it up I’m not sure. We shot it out in L.A. two or three weeks ago. We had Aimee Teegarden, from “Friday Night Lights” and Kellan Lutz from “Twilight” are both in it.

HRH: What are some of the other songs you would like to see released as singles?

Cody Hanson: Man you know what it is hard for me to say. I’m in love with the entire album, but “the Best Is Yet To Come” is my favorite song on the album so at some point I would definitely like to see that one released and “Up All Night” is another one I would like to see out there.

HRH: Everyone knows Mick Mars played lead and solos on the title track “Take It To the Limit” but he initially contacted you guys to write some songs together. What was your reaction when you found out Mick Mars wants to write songs with you?

Cody Hanson: It was pretty much holy sh*t you have to be f**king kidding me. All of us look up to Motley Crue and they are one of our biggest musical influences, so it is pretty crazy when someone you look up too like that calls and reaches out wanting to work with you, that’s pretty incredible.

HRH: Did anything come out of the writing sessions that we may be hearing in the future?

Cody Hanson: We actually never got a chance to write, but there is a good chance it might happen in the future we are going to be spending some time with them out on the road coming up pretty soon so we’ll see.

HRH: What do you think it is going to be like going out on the road with Motley Crue next year?

Cody Hanson: Um I don’t know man, I am not really sure what to expect because things are so much different then they used to be with those guys but I think it is going to be fun. It is going to be cool to get in front of Motley Crue fans, especially those that aren’t familiar with Hinder. It should be a blast for sure.

HRH: You guys are from Oklahoma City. When you were playing the clubs there did you ever think you would be hanging out with Mick Mars or Playboy Cybergirls, like the ones in the “Use Me” video?

Cody Hanson: I don’t know man I never really thought about it. We were just so focused on gaining new fans and doing what we had to do to get somewhere, at that point it was all business, of course we like to have a good time and stuff but we were really really focused on just getting our music out there. I definitely never thought it would be this way that is for sure.

HRH: You guys are out on the road right now with the Jaegermeister tour with Rev Theory and Trapt. How is that going?

Cody Hanson: It’s awesome we’ve been great friends with the Rev Theory guys for a long time so it’s always great to get back out on the road with them, live it up and have some good times. Of course Jaegermeister is amazing the company and the drink I think we drink more Jaeger than water so it’s great.

HRH: You installed a Jaeger machine on your tour bus so there has to be some wild road stories.

Cody Hanson: Yeah there are always stories, always good stuff going on. We actually just got one of the new pull styles machines and they gave us a road case for it so we can take it anywhere we want to go without it getting all messed up.

HRH: Your first album “Extreme Behavior” was out for a year before it actually hit big. Did the band get discouraged when it didn’t hit right off?

Cody Hanson: No not really, we knew it was going to be a very slow build like it is for any baby band. “Get Stoned” did really well for us, it got up to number 2 on the rock charts so we were moving some pretty good units off of that single alone and then of course when “Lips” hit things just got insanely crazy. We were just excited to be out touring and doing our thing.

HRH: “Lips of an Angel” was such a huge song. It is hard for a rock band to get respect when your first hit is a ballad?

Cody Hanson: Well I guess it depends on who you are talking about in the press and the reviews I read all the time there are so many people that just f**king hate us with a passion but all that matters to the band is our fans love the music that we write, if they pick up the album and the music touches them on some level and they come to the show ready to party then I don’t care what anybody else says.

HRH: Was there any pressure from the record company to write “Lips of an Angel 2”?

Cody Hanson: No it was pretty cool they were actually like nonexistent during the whole process. It gave us the chance to write the album that we wanted to write and record. I don’t know that they are so happy now but we’ll see.

HRH: AC/DC’s “Black Ice” was leaked weeks before the release date. How hard is it for bands to protect their music and make sure that doesn’t happen?

Cody Hanson: It’s pretty tough especially on the label end. Our A&R guy at the label keeps it on lock down, he is really careful about who he gives music too, he basically keeps it all to himself. We were able to have one version, he wasn’t even able to give it to everybody in the band that’s how careful they were.

HRH: Anything you would like to say before we wrap it up?

Cody Hanson: We are out on the road, so come see us and be ready to party and thanks to the fans that support us, we appreciate it they are the reason we do what we do.